Budget build, 8yrs I knew the latest stuff, now not so much

merc4nowSep 9, 2008, 6:01 AM

Hey guys I know it's late and doubt I'll get a quick answer but I'd appreciate the some honest help. Here my thing I use to be all over the pc scene. LOL can't believe I was drooling when we broke the 1ghz mark and a few years later it was affordable. Anyway's it's been a LONG time. I don't play much mainly because I haven't upgraded since then, I was bummed when I bought BF2142 and couldn't even install it (yes I bought it not even looking at the requirements). So I'm looking for a fresh build. I doubt I can use anything from my current rig, 19 inch relisys, (fading fast) k7 delta MSI AMD equipment, 756 ddr. few random hard drives all IDE. My plans are to play at least Starcraft two which isn't even out yet, maybe the latest battlefield franchise. I'm really getting into AUTOCAD and may have a future in that (just got out of the service and going back to college with a family) so budget is a big concern but I like to go all out as much as I can for things to last me 5 more years or so. So here's my question yes I've search the site I see lots of other help me build but a lot of you guys suggest different motherboards with different chipset's and I'm lost you fall behind real quick now. Giving what I want it to just hoping someone can help me get something in my price range. I'd prefer newegg as they seem cheap on shipping. So if anyone's bored and really wants to help post a wish list in my price range. Ok here goes

Wants:up-to date gamer rig capable or hanging for at-least a few yearsreally liking the quad ideal, but I heard latest duo's match price for better performanceStart from scratch, but I could burn DVD's on my older rigs, but I guess I need SATA

Budget$1K honestly it's 800 for the system but I think I can sneak by the wife with buying a 22 inc monitor at Circuit city and spend 1K on the rest. unless i can get a 22 inch GOOD monitor within 1200 shipped.

but I have little ideal on the vid cards or if the mother board is has slots for upgrades such as this new pci 2? none the less deals like this (send more if you find em) pull me toward them I know it's not hard once your given the right parts to build a rig but things add up... keyboard, monitor, os, shipping. really cut into a 1200 budget but i'm hoping you guys can help.

So help me out guys I'd appreciate it.

Oh btw I'm running off a frankenstien pc of parts since my psu finally gave out, on DSL linux. so i'mm in the market for this quick fast and in a hurry. Thanks

ouch, hundred dollar cases really needed now days? (not knocking the suggest I appreciate the response just asking) also. Looking through the stuff now, wow five year warranty? funny my antec just gave out it had a 3 year warranty it's been 3 1/2 since the stock psu went out. visiontek a good knock off? man parts are so expensive and I know these are still budgeted items. Would be nice ot have a ::Cough cough:: ::egistered:: OS...Has abit gotten better in the last 6 years? I've lost 2 to random capcitor and non-mem capatiblity for kids pc's

It faster than the seagate 6400 and offers more storage space (HD movies yay!)

Anyway, that system will hold you for 3 to 5 years with ease.Also if you are in college, check if they have some kind of partnership with microsoft, I'm in college and they gave me a free copy of vista business

I agree that a 4850 would be a good choice for the GPU.As nice as it looks, I've decided I don't like the Antec 300 because of the way the PSU has to be mounted and that effect on airflow. For a bottom-mounted PSU that is properly vented, check out the CoolerMaster RC-690.As low-priced alternatives, the CoolerMaster Elite and Centurion cases, and the even cheaper $25 Rosewill cases are roomy and have good front-to-back cooling with a 120mm rear fan and a place to mount another one up front. CoolerMaster may include a side fan as well, and is tool-free, whereas the Rosewills have neither of those features. I just built a business system in a Rosewill last weekend, and found the case a lot nicer than its price implies. A 4850 may add enough heat that you may prefer to have a side fan.

Edit: Oh yeah, that prebuilt system is crap. Amazing how the listing says the Intel Graphics Media Deccelerator is good for games. Guild Wars (not the most demanding title by far) will get 20-25FPS if most settings are turned down. Your suckage may vary, but will probably be worse.

I agree here, the CM 690 is a nice case. A cheaper alternative would be the CM 590 which mostly presents the same characteristics. I have an CM Elite for a secondary built, it does the job but it's on the cheap on the other hand, when built is completed the look is not bad. In the end, just make sure you got at least 2 x 120mm fan, one in front and one in back of the case.

hey sir crono, is that drive you suggestd really faster? 32mb cach doesn't push the segate in a faster spped? I mean either would blow my ide ata 100 80gig Wd away but just trying to get th most out of the money for sure. Also did you contact the school or microsoft vender? (I currently go to a junoir college so I doubt they have the kinda help but I'll definatly give it a try) Thanks.

Thanks for the response Guys, I should be ordering tonight.

*********Question************ I kept reading about native resolution in monitors and such any ideal what a good number to shoot for would be so when I do rearly have time to play games I can really enjoy all the detials?

don't spend $130 on hdd drive. $85 drive will be great and will not notice a difference. I didn't realize you could get the seagate for $85. that is a great deal.

+1 to the cm case. is getting 22" screen then +1 to the 4850. if going 24" then get the 4870. will give you more ability for higher settings on that awesome resolution and more prepared for new games that come out.

Hey guys If I buy this can I install it directly on fresh drive or would I need completely registered copy of xp hence the Vist UPGRADE sp1? Also fo 64 is it a different disk or like how you could choose to install fat16 or fat32?

I got my Thermaltake WingRS case from newegg for about $25 (had a promo code for free shipping)...definitely check out sites like slickdeals.net for combo deals and promo codes for newegg items...I saved a ton like this...I'd definitely recommend the 4850 for your gpu...there's no way blizzard is gonna mess up starcraft 2 and require a high end rig to play on high settings...(*glare at crytek*)...

or....If you would consider an AMD quad core, you could save even more $. You wouldn't probably notice much difference, unless you do some OC'ing. I'd get the Phenom x4 9850 for $155 and a motherboard around the $145 combo price = $299!!!Combo link, look at 2nd item down from the top!

You can decide which way you want to go, but the AMD has value, especially if you need to save some $. There are other cheaper Phenom x4's you can get also, so don't think that the one that I linked is the cheapest one out there. Yes the Intel quads are nice, but if you need to save some $ and not sacrifice too much than AMD CPU's will work.

I'm surprised nobody has even suggested the Q6600... Best bang/buck CPU out there.

I was going to mention it too, but the only ding (very small one) is that it doesn't have the newer instruction set (something to do with encoding, IIRC). Other than that it's a good CPU too. Seems a bit spendy at $190, but it is definately cheaper than the >$250 Intel quads out there!

I'd also look at the Corsair tx750w PSU along with the PCP&C one that Emp linked. The Corsair has the same 60A on the 12V rails, but has 4 x 6pin +2 PCI-e power connectors, the PCP&C only has 2 x 6pin PCI-e and 2 x 6pin +2 PCI-e power connectors (if that would really make a difference for you).$111 - $20 MIR= $91!!!! Hard to beat at that price!!Corsair TX 750W ATX 12V Power Supply

SSE4 only does wonders for video encoding (only on apps that support it) and quads already handle themselves really well in that department anyway. Not worth getting the Q8200 or Q9300 over the Q6600 unless you're REALLY serious about video encoding.

Not really into encoding I'm just looking for what wil still be able to sqeeze out more 3 years from now, possibly oc a few years from now ect. I did have psu it was a ombo with the 300 antec case still debating it though,it's tough I really wanted to keep everything in one shop but people send good deals at other places, I'm trying to calculate the shipping and such to se if it's all worth it. I think I'll be dumping aot more on a screen then wanted but I really want the best affordable stuff to really last.. ie getting alot of stuff with longer warranties ect. Question on th quads, let say I pick up this crysis I hear alot about does that totally cuase my possible build to fall behind? I mean I know quads are great for apps that use the dif cpus but if I play a game for example crysis, (no ideal what it is have yet to look it up just keep reading "I can almost max eveything out on crysis with this card..ect", will it only look at my system as being a 2.3 or 2.4?

Also the reaons I'm honestly asking for so much help is it's hard to do reserch on items that you can't bookmark becuase your using a temp os ..DSL linux..for those who don't know it runs off cd-rom in memory, so you can't save anything since my hard drive was toasted with my psu. I use to really be an amd guy lunyone and I'm actually still pushing a xp 1200 or 2100 I forget. But I get from freinds who are still very active in computer tech say intel has pulled away big time from amd, and intelis the only way to go for clocking.

Well there is nothing wrong in asking questions that your not sure about. I was there too, so this isn't anything knew to me. The q6600 will be the best bang for the buck right now. The only reason I mentioned the AMD setup is that it will save you some $ now. The Intel builds are generally more expensive, because of the mobo's tend to be a bit more. There are trade-offs with either build (Intel/AMD). AMD has been behind since the C2D's came out about 2 years ago. AMD is playing catch-up, so they have dropped their prices to be competetive. This doesn't mean that their CPU's are bad, just not quite there yet. I'd say they are generally about 90-95% there, depending on what your running. AMD's are generally better at certain benchmarks, but the Intel's do well also on those same benchmarks. The big benefit that Intel has right now is that they are pretty easy to OC and get even a better bang for the buck!!! You just have to outlay a bit more initially. It used to be that you had to spend more for the Intel chip, but they didn't perform as well as AMD chips. This has changed since the release of the C2D's. You can decide what path you want to go with, but generally AMD chips with their respective mobo's are going to be a bit cheaper than Intel setups. If you can afford the little more $ now on an Intel build, than you should consider it. I for one build systems for friends who are usually on fairly tight budgets. This generally favors AMD builds over Intel ones, since I can usually squeeze out a better GPU with a AMD build over an Intel one. This doesn't always suit everyone, but in most of my cases this works out best.

Thanks, that's why I posted here losts of questions and people seem to response in a good and fast manner. Years ago tom's hardware was the best for truly budget builds and sqeezing power out of cpu's, can't believe how much tech has improved over the years, makes me feel old. I'm on a budget but I kinda on the fence, I COULD spare a bit more here and there and just tell myself "no I didn't spend 1500K including monitor", I just hate to spend so much to find a: I really didn't need it even for a few years, B: come X-mas when the only came I seem to have a want to play if I even get time wont come out until 3 months from now, knowing 3 months from now I could get almost everything for hundreds less. But that's how it goes. I just want something that will last and If I chooose to play the lastest FPS game I don't have to play it on lowest "hey kill me becuase I cant even see you yet " settings". The biggest hit right now is going to be cpu and monitor I expected vid cards to x-over into the 300 range for something to last but I didn't know about this SLI until a week ago. ANY one have any suggestions on monitors? Is it better to buy localy? I'm totally pulled in by a samsung 22 widescreen at Best buy for just under 300 before tax, has like 10000:1 and 2ms. I've never owned a lcd so all this is so new to me personally I just don't want to make a bad and expensive buy.

I mean, I found a place for AMD's phenoms in my heart (took me a few months, I'll be honest on that...), however I'm still trying to find a place where I can recommend them without them falling short to intel.

The only thing the Q6600 lacks is the SSE4 instruction set, which helps mostly on video encoding, if you do it very little or not at all, then it's not worth stressing over it, it really is important for people who do video encoding as their primary use though. I'd say go for the Q6600 and the build you previously listed above as your best option, you'd just need a CPU cooler down the road when you decide to OC your CPU.

Crysis is a graphical behemoth (and to me also a fun game, I really enjoyed it), you shouldn't have to worry about performance to be CPU-bound, especially with a Q6600 (even though Crysis uses up to 2 cores I believe), it is more GPU-bound than anything.

Another possibility that I haven't seen being brought up here is CF HD 4850s, which should run you for about $320-340 and will give you a performance level only bested by the $550 HD 4870 X2.

Don't go SLI or use nvidia cards at the moment, they brought out some decent cards, but Ati pretty much shocked the world afterwards with their offerings, that's why everyone and their mom are getting Ati cards nowadays (myself included). About the screen, even though you might spend a little bit more, it is definitely a good idea to check out the screen in person because you can make sure it has no dead pixels and see what it looks and feels like before you drop any money on it, you should be paying a $20-40 or so mark up, but for the screen it's worth it.

back down to earth on the cards and better value for cpu. Anyone see what might be a factor in upgrading say 2 years from now? is the board decent enough to oc' clokc after I learn more about it? Any suggestions on cases and psu's still I perferr long warrant's and enought power to last with the warranty, ie I know a 500 would be ok for now but if I did sli would it still be ok?

Oh that sounds like a decent breakthough, I know systems might not use it to it's full extent now but would it be woth another 60-70, now to last a few years instead of another 100 a few years from now..Well know that I put it that way man this sucks, racking my brain. so if I got the Q6600 and the hd 4870 would that be better then a 2.3 quad with SSEand a hd4850?

I'd get two HD 4850 for a crossfire setup (SLI is for nvidia and Crossfire is for Ati) and the Q6600, the board is based on a chipset which is an excellent OC'er, also the video encoding refers to encoding videos on your own, nothing related to gaming or downloaded movies. I read people constantly breaking the 3.2 Ghz barrier with relative ease and some getting with good air cooling to 3.6 Ghz stable.

I would strongly advise you against getting a smaller PSU that may not be up to the job, they are after all the most important component in your build and should never be overlooked. I chose to show you the PCP&C offerings, because they are top quality in the market with great customer service (in the event that something does go sour) and retailing for a decent price considering what you're getting.

Total - ~$970 and if you need OS and DVD add about $130 to the price. The 2x 4850's is about $75 more than 1 4870, but will outperform it by quite a bit, so you can decide. If you want to save a bit now, you could just get 1 4870 for about $250 and than your price would drop below $900 before OS and DVD burner. Than if you add OS/DVD/LCD to the price you'd be about $1300-$1400 depending on how much you spend on the LCD. This system will last you quite awhile. I wouldn't worry much about the added instruction for the q8200 over the q6600. I just mentioned it, because it can make a little difference if your into that, but I don't think you will notice much if any of a difference.

1.) Cooler Master makes good cases, but horrid PSUs and you're getting a PSU bundled in that's probably a step above junk at most, I am very against skimping on the PSU, probably the WORST mistake you can do on a computer. Get the Corsair 750TX that luny is suggesting.

2.) I'm not sure if you decided on only one HD 4850. What luny and I are suggesting is an HD 4850 crossfire setup. You can drop the second one later if you want, but considering the kind of screen you want and the kind of performance you'd come to expect, I'd urge you to consider the crossfire setup if you want to be satisfied.

I think you're getting close, but I'd still suggest a couple changes. First, you don't want an IDE DVD you want it to be SATA (mainly for airflow purposes). You'll be cutting it a bit close with a 550W PSU, and if you're looking for longevity the PSU is one of the few components that won't be outdated by new tech any time soon which makes it a prime candidate to spend extra for furture proofing. And that's good RAM, but there's a better choice. And the P5Q Pro is a very nice mobo, but the GA-EP45-DS3R has a MIR right now. I'd suggest the following...

Well got my case in from buy.com even though I paid for 2 day it didn't arrive until yesteray morning 4 days later if you include saturday. Newegg.. wow all I read about was how great there shipping was ect ect arrive in 2 days with regular mail. My entire order was sent via one package from cali to florida pan handle, it's suppose to arrive tomorrow, I ordered it sept 11 morning. Then I can start putting it together and asking what the L happened guys help me figure trhis out.. hope not but you know. Anyways crazy thanks to everyone who suggested the CM690 Wow craftmanship has come a long way in 8 years. 80 bucks shipped and this thing is sweet just my style it's a shame I'll be putting it under my desk, but it's also cool that the ports are on top. the fans and places for more fans on this thing is rediculous. Just sucks I have nothing to put in it right now.

well a small puff smoke, my freaking out over psu not turning on for a bit, everything is together and runs like greased lighting, awesome. Thanks again to everyone who help in the choices. On a side note, I'm a bit dissipointed in the fact that I can only get AutoCad Civil 3d in 32 version when it comes to my free version for students...so even though I called autocad and ask the help desk they said "It can run on 64 bit os in 32bit" the problem is when you get the free student versin you have to use a student installer/downloader whitch closes every tie I spend an hour downloading it justr for it to say "Autocad 32bit can not install on a 64 os".. ahhhh, it also took some run around to find 64 bit version Microsoft C++ express (also another class I'm taking though I don't enjoy it, it's a must for my degree..ugh.

One more question current guru's of modern computer techno, I have the asus board mentioned above which comes with "Onboard Audio, Audio Chipset Realtek ALC1200 Audio Channels 8 Channels "

Now I have a number of older pc's and a few newer parts I've gather from freinds dumping there's (pack rat for computer stuff)

Question is would it be benificial to install one of these two pci sound cards that I have on hand or is the onboard much better? I don't have crazy speakers yet, but do plan on upgraded by x-mas. The cards I have found model #'s of newegg, and net/driver forums

Well my personal opinion is that you won't need a seperate sound card. Onboard sound these days is quite nice! A seperate sound card was needed in the past to improve your FPS in games, but that has been put to rest. I use a headset (headphones and a mic combo) to do all of my gaming on. So you can decide if you really want an additional sound card or not. I'm not sure if the older sound cards have 64bit drivers for them, so you might want to consider that.

How come no one seems to be recommending any of the E8* (E8200, 8400, 8500, 8600) lines of CPUs? Is quad core the only game in town now? I thought for gaming, the extra cores won't make a difference for at least a few years?